I think it's too early to conclude something strong.
Mobile is Eating the World
91–100 of 158 posts
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Yes the growth of mobile is explosive and, in some cases, it's displacing older technology. I think the mischaracterization is of what mobile is replacing. It isn't the PC. A PC is primarily a computing device, an iPhone is primarily a communications device. The iPhone and iPad aren't replacing PCs, they're replacing newspaper, radio and telephone. They're only replacing PCs to the extent that the PC had already pa…
Very well put. In my experience tablets are also replacing books and tv. I suspect that in a lot of houses the parents are now using tablets, the kids are using PCs/laptops and the tv is mostly off. Well this is how it is in our house :). Our tv now exists for netflix via chromecast once or twice a week.
I have this theory the so called breakthrough of Apple in the TV business is the iPad and not a big 5k TV screen.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#93From one of the slides: Email is for grandparents I think this varies. I'm not a grandparent, but am close to 50 years old and have been working in computer technology my entire adult life. I have an Android smartphone (got my first one this year) but have not installed any apps on it. Email, web browser, text messages, calendar, contacts, and maps are all there and I can't really think of anything else useful I'd wa…
I'd say it depends. I'm a 30 year old Linux/Windows system engineer, spend too much spare time reading about distributed systems and programming matters, but really only use my phone(Nexus5) the same with the addition of pager duty and the odd boarding pass. The "basics" really. My mate is 7 years younger in the same industry and I don't believe he's snapgrams or instachats. Partner doesn't even want a smartphone because she's afraid she'll lose it. My father uses Facebook way more than I do.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#94From one of the slides: Email is for grandparents I think this varies. I'm not a grandparent, but am close to 50 years old and have been working in computer technology my entire adult life. I have an Android smartphone (got my first one this year) but have not installed any apps on it. Email, web browser, text messages, calendar, contacts, and maps are all there and I can't really think of anything else useful I'd wa…
While e-mail may not be perfect, it still seems to be the best medium there is for people who collaborate best via asynchronous communication. The antipattern of using more synchronous media -- the telephone, in particular -- to force quick decisions is obnoxious and I think ultimately counterproductive.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#95Mobile is how I know I am old.
After 5 minutes on a iphone or android phone I am like f* this give me a damn desktop.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you look at the biomechanics, it does seem like a keyboard + mouse + >=20" screen is the optimal setup for doing actual work. A keyboard is simply the most efficient way to get information into a computer (the exception is that some graphics editors work might work better with a multitouch screen, it will be interesting to see if someone builds a touch-first photoshop killer). That said, there might be a convergen…
Your assumption, which I think is wrong, is that WPM (or maybe APM) is the bottleneck for most work. I suspect reading/comprehension, problem solving, planning, usability, and access to the right tool, discovery of tools, responsiveness of tools, teamwork... These things are much more likely to be the bottleneck. As a programmer, I suspect I could probably type the entirity of a days work into the computer in a half…
I can't even read a phone screen without reading glasses on, I absolutely loathe reading more than a paragraph of text on one and I really couldn't imagine getting any significant amount of work done on a mobile platform.
If we count tablets as mobile too (they're wireless after all and plenty of them come with SIM slots) then the consumption part gets a bit better, in landscape mode you can read PDFs on them but the part of work that requires significant input would - for me - not be an option.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#97Very hard to compare two worlds (mobile and 'immobile' computers) without taking into account that the one is brand new and people seem to want one (and there is a very large push to own the latest and greatest) and the other is simply mature technology that works until the hardware dies. It's obvious you're going to sell more of things that sit in peoples pockets that replaced their previous phone, something they were doing with some regularity before smartphones appeared.
Smartphones and tablets are interesting, they may enable new applications, they take over some of the functionality of desktops and laptops but it's more of a continuum than a very strong difference, you go from small and on your person to phablets (what a word), tablets, laptops, touch screen all-in-one PCs, regular PCs all the way to servers.
So mobile simply completed the spectrum and as long as there is a fashion element to it they'll be sold in very large numbers (the fact that the batteries die is another push to upgrade them, ditto laptops).
In the longer term it will slow down a bit but mobile phones will always be sold in larger numbers than desktop computers because of these reasons.
There is one way in which 'mobile is eating the world', which is in terms of resources consumption, and that is going to be a real problem without better and more structured ways of thinking about disposing phones during the design phase as well as some kind of rebate program.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I guess you've completely missed that it's not about improving work, it's about improving non-work such as entertainment, leisure and healthcare. Work computers have remained relatively static by comparison in capabilities, numbers, usage and usage type.
Perhaps it is just me but I include "getting stuff done" as part of "work." Perhaps it is just me but I find a smartphone incredibly useless for anything but the most passive of tasks. If I want to "do something" I use a computer. "Something" being defined very loosely. Do rather than consume. Even doing something for leisure since 99% of "doing" tasks are very difficult to do on a phone for me - if that makes any se…
I would agree with you, but the majority seems to be against us. Personally I find the usability on smartphones, and iPads, frustratingly poor. Even something like browsing the web is pretty much impossible, navigation is awkward, keyboard is rubbish and the speed is terrible. That being said I think there's only a few of us that forgo smart phones and tables for a laptop or even desktop PC.
Office workers however are most likely not going to swap out their PC in the foreseeable future, in terms of speed and usability their are still way ahead of any mobile device (laptops excluded of cause).
Yes, mobile is just as important, if not more, that PCs in some industries. If you do online commerce, entertainment and consumer facing services ignoring mobile would be foolish. For other industries you can safely ignore mobile for now.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
That strikes me as a lousy comparison. I could easily see a notebook with a detachable touchscreen and the proper OS (OSes?) being a useful machine (easier to see since a reasonably selling device actually exists). What if an iPad Air could simple attach to a MB Air chassis and only serve as the display when attached?
It's not a hardware limit that keeps mobile from wholly eating desktop, but a software one. Mobile OSes are intentionally crippled and locked down at the OS layer. You don't own or control your device, and only approved software can run. Android is a bit better than iOS in this respect, but not much. None of the mobile vendors have any incentive to change this, since it would mean forfeiting the App Store tax and for…
What about Ubuntu and Firefox? Those are uncrippled, I hope.
Re: Mobile is Eating the World
#100Mobile is how I know I am old. After 5 minutes on a iphone or android phone I am like f* this give me a damn desktop.
I think my iPad ran out of battery three months ago, I haven't looked at it since. If you don't use it for entertainment, it's pretty much useless. Touchscreens and the fullscreen apps just doesn't work for me.